Grants Search Results

Based on progress to date, Dr. Sabnis was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Cure rates for children and adolescents with metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma, the most common soft tissue sarcoma in childhood, remain poor despite decades of research. While researchers know the mutation, PAX3-FOXO1, that causes an aggressive form of this cancer, getting rid of the mutation does not kill cancer cells. Since PAX3-FOXO1 drives cells to create many new proteins, Dr. Sabnis hypothesizes that these cells depend on buffers that keep proteins from misfolding or clumping into toxic aggregates. This project tests whether blocking HSP70, one such buffer, specifically and effectively kills sarcoma cells. Understanding this vulnerability will open the way for better treatments.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Ladle was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. While the body's immune system is capable of attacking cancer, many factors prevent this from happening. The goal of Dr. Ladle's research is to develop a vaccine to be given to patients that activates their own immune system to treat their cancer. The project focuses on how the body regulates the immune system to normally ignore cancer. New drugs are being developed that could help take the brakes off the immune system and allow it to recognize and attack cancer. Combining these drugs with a cancer vaccine could provide the boost needed for immune therapies to effectively treat pediatric cancers.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Schuback was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Dr. Schuback's research aims to improve treatment for children with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer. This work focuses on characterizing the scope of mutations in a specific gene, ETV6, in children with AML. Preliminary work indicates that patients with such mutations are more likely to have a poor outcome. This project hopes to use the mutations in ETV6 as a marker to identify patients at high risk of relapse at the beginning of their treatment, in order to predetermine therapies that are most likely to succeed.

AML is a devastating form of leukemia. Therapy for AML is highly toxic and, still, only a minority of patients survive. This project aims to develop new, less toxic, and more effective therapies for AML. Dr. Salstrom hopes to use models to determine exactly which therapies will work best for which patients. This approach, called personalized medicine, allows researchers to treat each child's individual leukemia in the most effective and safest way possible.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Bona was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. The goal of this research is to identify social factors that contribute to childhood cancer mortality, and symptoms and suffering during treatment. While we know that poverty is associated with poor health in pediatric primary care and children with chronic illness, we don't know how poverty impacts the health of children with cancer. Dr. Bona will develop a screening tool which can be used to identify childhood cancer families at-risk for material hardship, and to study the relationship between poverty and childhood cancer outcomes, with the ultimate goal of designing ways to improve pediatric cancer outcomes related to poverty.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Choo, the Tap Cancer Out St. Baldrick’s Fellow, was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Ewing sarcoma is a bone and soft tissue cancer that occurs in adolescent and young adults (AYAs). When the cancer spreads (metastasis), survival falls below 30% despite aggressive chemotherapy and surgery. Fortunately, promising data has identified certain genes that are specifically turned on in metastatic Ewing cells. By developing targeted therapy against these gene products, Dr. Choo hopes to effectively treat Ewing sarcoma. In addition, targeting this unique pathway may reduce the use of conventional toxic chemotherapy agents that can cause cancer themselves. Ultimately, this research may help reduce both morbidity and save countless children with metastatic Ewing sarcoma.

This grant recognizes the partnership with Tap Cancer Out, a jiu-jitsu based 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising awareness and funds for cancer fighting organizations on behalf of the grappling community.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Velasquez was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Cancer treatments consisting of the infusion of T cells (one component of the patient's own immune system) that recognize CD19 (a molecule present on many blood cancers) have shown promise in early clinical studies. However, not all patients currently benefit from CD19-specific T-cell infusions. Dr. Velasquez's lab is conducting studies to optimize a new genetic approach with the ultimate goal of developing a clinical study to address this issue.

Many children with neuroblastoma die of their disease, and treatments sometimes cause lethal side-effects. Dr. Aguilar is studying a family of natural substances called sphingadienes, found in soybeans, that are able to kill colon, prostate and other cancer cell types. While initial studies indicate they may kill neuroblastoma cells too, this study is the first step in exploring sphingadienes as a new treatment option for children with neuroblastoma.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Allen-Rhoades was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer that affects children, adolescents and young adults. Patients have better survival if the cancer has not spread to other parts of the body. This project aims to develop a blood test that can detect the cancer and determine if it has spread to other areas. This test will be more sensitive and easier to use than current methods, and will ultimately help improve the survival of children with osteosarcoma.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Annesley, Tap Cancer Out St. Baldrick’s Fellow, was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant cancer of the white blood cells. Each year in the United States, approximately 10,000 adults and 1,000 children are diagnosed with AML. Only about 50% of these patients will be cured with current chemotherapy. Recently, mutations of genes have been shown to contribute to the development of AML, such as the FLT3/ITD mutation. Another mutation, Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) has been demonstrated in about 10% of patients with AML, but its effect on the development of leukemia is not well understood. WT1 and FLT3/ITD mutations can occur together, and patients with both mutations have dismal survival rates of 15%. This project attempts to prove that these two mutations can work together and may contribute to the formation of leukemia. It also attempts to show that mutations of WT1 cause cells to function abnormally, directly contributing to the development of leukemia. Early research shows that cells with WT1 mutations grow faster and more aggressively. Researchers have created the first model to study the interaction between FLT3/ITD and WT1 mutations. Ultimately, if WT1 mutations are shown to contribute to the formation of leukemia, the development of a drug that interferes with WT1 could improve cure rates in patients with AML.

This grant recognizes the partnership with Tap Cancer Out, a jiu-jitsu based 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising awareness and funds for cancer fighting organizations on behalf of the grappling community.

Despite decades of research, children with glioblastoma multiforme (a type of brain cancer) rarely survive more than three years. This project is testing a new drug (CC11050) that might treat this type of cancer, and may lead to clinical trials in children with glioblastoma multiforme to improve cure rates.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Boston was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Studies show that a robust immune system improves survival of patients with cancer, which may explain why patients with the same cancer treatment have different outcomes. This project aims to find a treatment which can enhance the patient's immune system, potentially improving outcomes, by measuring immune system responses to chemotherapy, testing immune-enhancing drugs, and performing a clinical trial to determine whether these drugs are effective in enhancing the immune system in children with cancer. Awarded at UT M.D. Anderson and transferred to Our Lady of the Lake, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Baton Rouge Affiliate.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Breese was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. When a parent hears that their child has leukemia, one of the first questions doctors hear is, "Why?" Years of research on this question has shown that there are critical changes that happen in a cell that lead to the development of leukemia. Using new technology, this project is to recreate the genetic changes that play an important role in the development of many types of leukemia. This will help us to better understand why children develop cancer and to develop more focused therapies to improve our ability to cure childhood leukemias.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Ferguson was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Neurofibromatosis type I is a rare genetic disorder that affects about 100,000 people in the United States alone. Of children with this disease, 25-40% form slow growing tumors called plexiform neurofibromas. These tumors can cause disfigurement, disability, and even death, depending on their location. To date, there is no effective therapy to treat these tumors. This project is testing drugs, already developed by pharmaceutical companies, that block growth in other cancers, for plexiform neurofibromas. The purpose of this study is to find a life-saving treatment for children with these tumors.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Gowda was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. This project studies the regulation of the function of the Ikaros protein. The loss of function of the Ikaros protein is associated with the development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that does not respond well to current therapies. Dr. Gowda is studying the way that Ikaros prevents the development of leukemia and to explain why the loss Ikaros activity leads to the development of leukemia. Thus, the results of this project will give insight into the mechanism of leukemia development. The more researchers learn about the way a cell changes to a cancer cell, the easier it will be to find new and more effective treatment options for patients with childhood leukemia.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Knoechel was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Approximately 15% of children with leukemia have a form known as T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Current chemotherapy initially works very well in this type of ALL, however many of these patients have a recurrence early in their treatment. There are factors that are known to add to the development of a cancer and how well drugs work against it. These factors are known as chromatin regulators. Birgit Knoechel, M.D., Ph.D., Porter Dowling St. Baldrick's Fellow, is studying a chromatin regulator, BRD4, and how effective it is in reducing the drug resistance in T-cell ALL. These findings, along with a newly developed inhibitor that specifically targets BRD4, may provide a new approach to the treatment of T-cell ALL. This grant is named for Porter Dowling, in recognition for raising more than $1.2 million for childhood cancer research through the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Moses was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Salinomycin, an antibiotic used in agriculture, has recently been shown to be highly effective against cancer stem cells, which are the resistant cells that contribute to relapse. This project aims to determine whether this antibiotic, in combination with standard treatment, can be used to effectively treat childhood brain cancers that develop resistance to standard treatment. The knowledge generated from this study will provide a new concept for treatment of brain tumors to achieve tumor eradication and potentially cure. Awarded at the University of Texas HSC San Antonio and transferred to the University of Virginia.

This grant is made with generous support from the McKenna Claire Foundation established by the Wetzel family in memory of their daughter, McKenna. Their mission is to cure pediatric brain cancer by raising awareness, increasing community involvement and funding research.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Pinkney was awarded a new grant in 2014 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Kerice Pinkney, M.B.B.S., Gen Re St. Baldrick's Fellow, studies ATM, a protein that regulates the response of a cell when DNA is damaged. Mutation of ATM leads to increased breaks in DNA. This can then lead to chromosomal translocation, a process by which pieces of chromosomes are swapped. This can cause normal genes to combine together and lead to a new gene that can induce cancer. The goal of this project is to study how the protein ATM suppresses the translocation of chromosomes and therefore better understand the cause of pediatric cancers.

This grant is named for the General Reinsurance (Gen Re) team, which has raised more than $1 million to date for lifesaving research through the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Awarded at Columbia University and transferred to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) makes up 15% of childhood leukemia. There is a protein inside the cancer cells of patients with T-ALL that helps the cancer cells grow. Dr. Richard aims to decrease the amount of this protein so it cannot stimulate the cancer cells to grow. This will help to develop better treatments for children with T-cell leukemia.

The concept of resilience implies an ability to withstand stress after a significant crisis. While there are several theories of resilience, there is little consensus about how to define it or, more importantly, how to promote it. Cancer in children and adolescents can pose daunting challenges for patients as well as their families. This study explores a novel model of resilience among adolescents and parents of children with cancer. Promoting resilience during and after childhood cancer will promote more positive psychosocial outcomes and ultimately enable better family-level survivorship.